“Can I get your number?” a woman from church asks you. “It would be great to get together sometime. I’ll reach out!” She doesn’t. “Hey, what’s your name again? Steven?” He’s already asked you two times. Your name is Colin. I know of a recent church conversation where one woman said to another, “Wait, are…
Category: Health
Pour Out Your Pain: A Prayer of Hope for Afflicted Hearts
Al Humdulillah. Praise be to God. Living in the Middle East, we hear this phrase several times every day. It is the answer to many questions. “How are you?” She could be happy or sad and say, “Al Humdulillah.” “How is your work?” He could have a well-paying job or none at all and say,…
Can We Know Truth with Complete Certainty?
Suffering has always been a major theme of our podcast — with about 1,800 mentions of the word suffering in our podcast history. You can find a digest of all the ways this has been addressed in the Ask Pastor John book on pages 365–394. And we have recently concentrated our attention on the theme…
The Happy Kind of Hierarchy: Order That Makes Marriage Beautiful
If someone asked you to list the most practical Bible passages on marriage, where would you go? Perhaps you would turn to Ephesians 5 and Paul’s mystic theology of marriage. Or maybe you would go to Mark 10, where Jesus grounds what we ought to do in marriage based on what God created marriage to…
The Sovereign Arms of Comfort: Resting in the Bigness of Jesus
It was an intimidating setting. I sat before the ordination council with only my Bible and statement of faith. For several hours, ten men questioned me about my beliefs. The time became a blur, but there was one moment that stuck out among the rest. Dr. Duane Litfin — former college president, pastor, and professor…
Love the Church Like Jesus
Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her . . . so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25–27) Imagine you see a bride early on the morning of her wedding day…
Ministry After God Takes a Beloved Wife
Audio Transcript If you are reading the Bible with us this year, this weekend we read Ezekiel 24–28. There we meet a stunning text, one that leads to this question from a listener named Matthew: “Pastor John, thank you for this podcast and for your faithful model of ministry over the years. As a young…
Doctrine Fails Without Delight: The Mind as Servant of the Heart
The theme of this conference is “Sing! The Songs of the Bible.” And the sentences on the website that explain where we are going state, Join us to rediscover the power and beauty of the songs of Scripture. From Genesis to Revelation, we will explore how the word of God guides and invigorates our worship…
‘You Shall Surely Die’? Unmasking the Many Faces of Death
ABSTRACT: God told Adam that he would “surely die” if he ate from the forbidden tree. He and Eve did not immediately return to the dust upon eating the fruit, but they did experience death in other forms. Their immediate shame and alienation from God, along with other descriptions of the curse beyond Genesis 3,…
Satisfy Me to the End: Praying with Wisdom as We Age
This summer, I began reviewing all my journals. As I write, I’m still plodding through the handwritten journals I kept in my twenties, transcribing them into digital documents as I go (for easier future reference). I’ve found this to be a good exercise for my soul. It’s allowed me to revisit seasons of spiritual desperation…